Mass Effect Wildcards
by DracolDuran79
Summary: Just after the Battle of the Citadel, Captain William Cauthon and his crew wash their hands of the civilized galaxy and enter the Terminus Systems, determined to "live it up" before the Reapers invade since no one is doing anything about them. Before long they get dragged into a shadowy war with mercs and warlords, and must choose whether or not to fight again.
1. Prologue

Authors note: For the few who read this already, thank you! I really hope you liked it. I've spent the last few months reading almost nonstop, and now I have a better understanding of how this site works, and how to post on it. So I'll be reposting this 'chapter' into far more manageable pieces.

And I will finally be adding to it as well. I have a whole novel planned for these characters, that will take place across most of the two year gap of Shepards death. And I even have other ones planned down the line for when I get to them, but only if this one turns out well.

So please, read, review, offer ideas or advice or criticism or just shoot the breeze, and most definitely enjoy!

I don't own Mass Effect, am not affiliated with BioWare or EA, this isn't for profit. I would like to get this noticed and published as an add on for ME, so if anyone knows anyone and thinks this good, put in a good word!

Shepard's gender will not be mentioned, and I'm toying with not mentioning the fate of the Citadel Council at the end of ME1, we'll see how it goes.

Prologue

Last stand at Flux

Battle of the Citadel – 2183 AD/CE

The Citadel; hub of the Mass Relay network, seat of authority for the Citadel Council, a floating, five armed, 30 mile long station in space with millions of residents, a veritable floating city five times over, and crown jewel of the known galaxy. Protected by the Citadel fleet, one of the largest fleets in known space, and deep inside a nebula that hides it, only to be found by the Mass Relays, all watched and guarded.

The Citadel is essentially the ruling city of the galaxy, home to members of every interstellar alien species, and so well protected as to be virtually untouchable.

The attacking fleet of Geth warships led by the Spectre traitor Saren Arterius didn't seem to agree with that assumption. With Sovereign, a Reaper dreadnaught nearly two kilometers long as their flagship and Geth soldiers secretly transported to the Citadel control towers beforehand, Citadel forces were hard pressed to stop them. The Council was evacuated to the Destiny Ascension, but everyone else in the Tower, the Presidium and the upper Wards were under attack from the synthetic killing machines and left largely to defend themselves.

One such group was at the upper Wards club Flux, located near the ring of the Presidium. They were being defended by a squad of Alliance Marines, under the command of Lieutenant Commander William Cauthon, who had arrived a few hours beforehand for some shore leave.

_A real vacation alright; a few drinks, some gambling, fine dining, a little dancing, rounded off by a nice full scale firefight with robotic invaders. Quite the sales pitch._ Cauthon thought sourly as he waited for the next push.

The volunteers had finished pulling the metal Geth bodies up the stairs that led to the club and using them to barricade the top and bottom of the stairs. Flux was a pretty exclusive club, you went up a stair case, entered a large, adjacent hallway that led to _another_ set of stairs that the club entrance was _adjacent _too, rather than right behind them. It was a great club location, but as it turned out, tactically, it was nearly a dream. An elevated location not in the direct fire path, a long metal hallway with no cover whatsoever connected to an adjacent door, offering minimal enemy fire support positions.

The only downside was the clubs other exits led into street alleys currently filled with rampant Geth and possibly even Husks forcing them to be barricaded. So while no one could get in, no one could get out either, and thus, it had become what action vids loved to produce and real soldiers hated to live; a last stand.

Cauthon looked over the work, the base and top of the staircase had been barricaded, with volunteers hauling the heavy metal bodies of downed Geth as his men rested, checked weapons and armor, or got battlefield treatments. The Geth had made two major pushes, both spectacular failures, but he could feel a third being readied, and he knew it wouldn't suffer from lack of information or reinforcements like the first two had.

Heading back into the club he looked around at the people, humans and aliens alike, most were in shock but where doing their best to work through it as they also worked to stay alive. They were cleaning wounds, practicing briefly on the dance floor with weapons, reading the second floor stairs for assault, or moving fuel cells to the doors for his plan for the coming wave. Decidedly not what any of them had planned for the day when they came to Flux only a few hours ago.

Staring out the far wall that was actually a two story window that ran the entire length of the club, Cauthon tried to wrap his own head around the mess. Looking out at the Citadel spread out before him, the arms sealed together so it looked like he was in a massive tunnel of city lights, he shook his head.

_And the day had seemed to be going so well._


	2. Age Old Disagreements

3 hours ago.

The Alliance Corvettes _O'Niell_ and _Jackson_ had docked close to the Presidium, with most of the officers and pilots splitting off for their own thing, while the so called Renegade Squad, led by Commander Cauthon stayed together. After coming back from a deep patrol in the Attican Traverse, fighting Batarian Slavers and chasing a Geth scouting party across half a solar system, Cauthons Renegades were looking for some R&R.

He'd heard about a recently opened club in the Presidium Wards called Flux that was pretty popular and figured it would be a perfect start. The only trouble was after the squad got off the long elevator and walked out into the lobby, they found that it currently had a bunch of Terra Firma protestors in it. His First Lieutenant Jack Shadows did _not_ like the Terra Firma party, or most of the mandates they stood for or put forward.

The trouble started when the Terra Firma head called them over after they had just entered the Wards.

"Excuse me, Alliance soldiers, do you have a minute to talk?" Cauthon stopped and looked over at the man, an average height human of eastern European descent with short cropped black hair, blue eyes and a small goatee. Cauthon stopping to look of course effectively stopped the whole squad.

A dozen fully armed and armored Alliance marines clustered together drew a few eyes, and more than few wide berths from passerby's.

Cauthon figured since they had already stopped, they may as well see it through and headed over. "I'm Commander William Cauthon," holding out his hand.

"A pleasure to meet you Commander Cauthon, I'm Charles Saracino, head of the Terra Firma Party, I am currently running for one of the five Spacer seats in the Alliance Parliament. I was wondering if you or any of your men might be interested in voting for me." Saracino explained as he shook Cauthons hand. Cauthon was instantly wary. He'd heard of the Terra Firma party, mostly from Jack, and hadn't liked much of what he'd heard. Nor did he like the party members behind Saracino protesting the end of the First Contact War.

Still, he figured he'd get the facts straight from the horse's mouth. "What are you running for Mr. Saracino?"

"The Terra Firma party takes a hard stance against alien influence. We believe Earth must stand strong against any alien influences, whether in politics, economics, or in the worst case, war." He gestured behind him towards the protestors. "That is why we are here protesting the end of the First Contact War, as we have every year since the groups foundation."

"What influences would you be standing strong against?" Shadows asked, stepping forward. Saracino took it stride, probably because he was used to crowds shifting from person to person with questions. The rest of the squad had gathered to listen, and Cauthon was starting to get a bad feeling, remembering how Jack had criticized the Terra Firma party more than once.

_Figures we would run into the leader of the group itself, and Jack being Jack, would very quickly start debating._ _The guy had no fear of being rude, getting into debates, arguments, even fights whenever it involved something he believed in._ Cauthon thought himself darkly, watching this spectacle play out.

Things like good trade relations? Better technology? Improved medicines? Actual alliances so we don't have to do everything alone?" Cauthon winced, groaning internally. This was not going to end well. But for some reason Saracino took it in stride, almost like he wanted a debate. Movement in the corner of his eye helped Cauthon notice a woman with a floating camera by her shoulder, recording everything. Saracino knew he was on camera, and wanted a debate. Cauthon almost grinned, the man was going to get what he wanted, but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like what he got.

"Earth must show that it can do things on its own. We must be able to stand strong and not have to rely on the goodwill of aliens in a time of crisis." Cauthon was impressed by the smart answer, though he didn't agree with it. Personally, when he was getting shot at, any help was welcome help. Glancing at his men he saw that a few, however, were nodding in agreement with Saracino.

"The aliens give humanity little real respect, and our own scientists are the equal of many of theirs. Look at the current state of affairs; an attack by an army of synthetic machines on one of our colonies, and no response from the Citadel Council. No fleets, no aid, nothing, the only thing they did was say that we shouldn't have made a colony so close to the Terminus Systems." Now many of the squad were nodding together, angry. The lack of help from the council races had made most of the Alliance military pretty pissed.

"We are a part of this galaxy, and being part of a community means that there are other people besides you. The Council respects us, we have an embassy here. But they can't run to the rescue for every problem. And why should they hold us in high regard? Every other race in Citadel space has been out here for at least three hundred years. We've barely been out here for twenty-six. Respect must be earned, not demanded. Those who demand respect often are the ones who don't deserve it." Shadows was a very sharp and savvy speaker when he wanted to be, and Cauthon had to admire that, usually.

With the opening statements out of the way, the two went at it for several minutes with a bigger and bigger crowd forming, with a not small number of aliens in it. Saracino was arguing for a tough, independent stance for humanity in the galaxy, with Shadows arguing for being strong and independent, but only when necessary, and for compromise, trade, and alliances.

"Two centuries ago, it wasn't human versus aliens, it was white versus black in America. A thousand years before that it was England versus France versus all of Europe. Two thousand years ago it was Rome versus Persia versus barbarian tribes, and three thousand years ago it was Greek versus Greek versus everyone else, and so on. Down through the Ages, odd infinitum." Shadows eyed the group behind Saracino. "The arguments of _we're better than them_ is not new, it's not original, and it hasn't changed in ten thousand years. It's just added a new category."

Saracino replied calmly, "That's true, but the reason the argument has been around for that long is that it has merits to it. I don't say everything from those ancient arguments is right or accurate, far from it, but they all had their valid points, they had their truths, even if others didn't want to see them. Funny how most of those cultures you named aren't around anymore. Maybe that should be the true lesson." Cauthon raised his eyebrows in surprise. Prejudiced the man may be, but he was clever, and dedicated. That was never a good triple combination in his experience.

Shadows finished with a pointed statement. "We need friends. We can't fight everyone, everywhere, all the time alone. Every child learns to not pick fights with everyone around them, it only succeeds in leaving them without friends, and getting beat up a lot."

Cauthon quickly decided it was time to step in, saying on duty officers weren't allowed to make official political statements, and steered his men towards the stairs that led to Flux. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the crowd starting to dissipate, and sighed in relief.

Getting to Flux was easy, and soon they were seated at several tables, with orders of food and drink on the way. Cauthon and Shadows sat at what they designated the officers table, and discussed the Terra Firma Party, the reports of Geth on Virmire and Feros, and rumors of Geth in other systems.

"I would prefer it if you didn't get into a political debate with a guy who could be one of our future bosses on a news vid. Politicians tend to remember those who disagree with them loudly, and those who make them look like fools on tape. Which you did both of, by the way." Cauthon told him, stone faced

"Yes sir. Understood, sir. Sorry sir."

"It's fine, just try to ignore them next time, at least while you're wearing an alliance uniform." Shadows chuckled a little and nodded contritely.

The food soon arrived, conversation moved on to more pleasant topics and everything was going well for about an hour, and then the screaming started!


	3. The First Wave

Whipping his head to door, Cauthon watched as a human and salarian were cut down by energy fire as they ran through the door. Shadows was already moving as a pair of black metal Geth Troopers with flashlights for faces walked through the door and leveled their Pulse Rifles. Cauthon focused his mind with unconscious speed and in conjunction with his body making the motions, let out a biotic throw.

Blue lights played around his armor as his biotic skills tapped into dark energy, surrounded and threw the Geth Trooper with gravity through the door into the hallway wall, hard enough that its internal circuitry blew before it hit the ground in a slump.

The second Trooper had turned to open fire on the new threat and was gunned down by six precise pistol headshots from Shadows, who was crouching by another table. Before they could even think, a white armored Geth Shock Trooper came running through the door, rifle at the ready. Before either Shadows or Cauthon could do anything the Shock Troop was cut down from concentrated fire by Sergeant Keagon Perlman and the Renegades. The Geth's shields bought it two seconds before a veritable hole was blown through its chest!

Even as hit the ground the club was in a panic, with patrons running for cover in the opposite direction of the door or out the other exits. Cauthon had pulled his shotgun off its mag-harness at the base of his back, and in practiced movements with his soldiers ran to cover the door. A good thing too as more Geth soldiers began to pour through, some firing as they came.

The soldiers opened up on the Geth, temporarily stalling their advance and bottlenecking them.

"Biotics, push!" Cauthon shouted, and following his own order, he and a line of three of his soldiers gathered their biotic strength, with blue dark energy dancing all over their bodies, stretched forth their hands, and with controlled, localized gravity fields, threw their targets. The grouped up Geth soldiers were collectively shoved back into the wall, where they fell down in a disorganized heap.

"Grenades out!" Shadows called, the order repeated by Sgt. Keagon, and several palm sized cylinder grenades were tossed into the pile of Geth, most of which were already trying to untangle themselves. "Cover!" Shadows yelled out as he ducked and pressed a button on his forearm holographic omni-tool, detonating the grenades.

With the Geth piled up in the corner of the metal hallway, the explosions were reinforced and devastating. After the blast wave and brief fire was past, the marines quickly resumed their defensive positions, guns trained on the door. Though they found that there currently were no targets, the Geth having been blown to bits or damaged enough to be killed.

"Spencer. Wason." Cauthon called out. The two men moved up to check the hallway and the Geth bodies. A quick look confirmed the pile of synthetic soldiers was dead, and the hallway was clear. Glancing back at the club, he noted that several patrons had erected a small barricade with the tables on the main floor.

His men relaxed slightly as he turned back, just in time to see a red targeting laser appear on Wason, followed instantly by a tech blast! His shields went down in a heartbeat, but his training kicked in and he dived for the door. Spencer turned down the hallway to face the attackers, only to take a rocket to the chest!

Shadows, closer to the edge of the door, peaked half his head around before pulling back. "Three Hoppers and another two Rocket Troopers, and they got another damn Shock trooper!"

Another blast hit the end of the hallway, near his men, keeping them pinned as they advanced. "Sergeant I want covering fire! Jack, drop the Rockets! Biotics, we have Hoppers to catch!"

Keagon began calling out orders as Shadows switched from his pistol to his rifle. Rocket troops tended to keep a distance so they could effectively use their rockets instead of a standard pulse rifle. They were covering for the Shock trooper and the Hoppers; which were Geth sabotage units that jumped from the walls to the ceiling to the floor and back again very quickly, hence the name.

On Cauthons signal Keagon and the other soldiers opened up, crowded as they were around the entrance. Shadows snuck another quick look, then twisted in a crouch with his rifle, fired, and twisted back, all in three seconds. A rocket hit the wall where Shadows head had been, but he was well in cover by then. He twisted and fired again, and suddenly there were no more rockets.

"Gotta love those flashlights they have for faces!" Shadows yelled out. "Best damn targets you could ask for!"

Grinning, he twisted and fired once more, but as he did, a laser sight appeared on his rifle, followed by a burst of green light, knocking Shadows back into the club, cursing as he fell.

"Sit rep!" Cauthon called out, raising his hand to ready the Biotics. Shadows sat up, looking furious.

"Rocketers down! Shock troop down! Hoppers only!" Which meant one of the Hoppers had sabotaged his rifle with a tech attack, blowing him backwards in the process. They weren't permanent, but on the battlefield, a few seconds with no weapon was usually a death sentence.

"Biotics, we have Hoppers to greet!" Will called out, giving the signal while moving forward himself. "Sergeant, covering fire!"

Keagon and his men opened up as Will and the three other marine biotics moved out onto the top of the stairs in the hallway, with three Geth Hoppers jumping around the walls and ceiling. Picking their targets, they created singularities, warp fields, or just grabbed them and threw them into the far wall, or lifted them into the air for the other marines to pick off at their leisure.

And just like that the fight was over.

"Secure the wards entrance!" Cauthon ordered. Keagon and four other soldiers ran down the hall to the opening that led to the stairs towards the wards markets. They opened the door and opened fire, yelling out. "Troopers!"

They fired and threw a grenade, and effectively ended the threat before Cauthon could even start moving.

"All clear!" They called back, taking up positions by the entrance.

"You alright Jack?" Cauthon asked, looking over to his second in command, who was looking over his rifle with a critical eye.

"Fine sir," he replied, standing back up. "The SOB didn't do any permanent damage. He just overheated Anna for a minute, froze her up. Don't know what he hit me with, but it just knocked me down, that's all."

"Good," Cauthon said, looking over the club, his men, and the hallway. "Then you can lead a team into the Wards and find out what the hell's going on. Like how we can get blindsided by Geth on the fucking Citadel!"

Shadows nodded, choosing his men as Sgt. Keagon returned. "What's going on sir? Why aren't there any alarms? And where the hell is C-Sec?" Cauthon shrugged and looked down at the Geth 'corpse' at his feet, before heading over to Spencers. Reaching down he collected the dead marines dog tags, before closing his eyes with a weary sigh.

As he stood up the alarms finally began to sound, with orders for the Council Evacuation and belated announcements that the station was apparently under attack by a massive Geth fleet!

Cauthon knew instantly that they were screwed, but he'd be damned if he was just going to sit back and take it!

"Jack!" He snapped, whirling around to his men. "Take a team, find out what the markets are like, and if we can leave, either by elevator or public cars. If not, gather whatever supplies you can and fall back here. The rest of us will fortify this position, in the event that we can't leave." Looking up to the sign Flux above the door, he sighed.

"Looks like Flux will be joining Troy, Bunker Hill and the Alimo. Hopefully we'll avoid the same fates as them, but if not, it's been fun."

Looking back at his men, he glared. "Well, what the hell are you doing still standing around!? Waiting for Shepard to show up and save the day? Move!" That spurred his men into action. Shadows quickly chose out three marines, one of them a vanguard, and headed out into the nearby Wards. Like Cauthon, Shadows was a veteran N7 marine, and Cauthon trusted him to come back with what they needed. While Shadows went poking around to see if he got shot at, Cauthon and Keagon set about organizing the club into a stronghold, and getting the civilians ready to fight.

The Geth didn't care who wore a uniform, and since they had to walk through the doors to get to the club, even an idiot could aim and hit them. If they wanted to live, and if Cauthon and his men were to have any chance at success, everyone had to pick up a gun and shoot the bad guys.

No exceptions.


	4. Watchtower

Shadows folded up his rifle and attached it to its resting place over his left shoulder before pulling off his assault rifle. Behind him, Corpral Charles Coogan, and Privates Albert Denny and Francine Cruse gave their own weapons a quick once over before Shadows signaled them to move out.

Checking the door one last time, they quickly moved down the stairs to the wards, Coogan and Denny checking left, Shadows and Cruse checking right. The main lobby clear, they moved out, and what Shadows saw made him shudder in revulsion and fear.

"Commander? You still read me?"

"Loud and clear. What's the situation?" Shadows stood in the lobby where he'd argued with Saracino just a few hours ago. It had changed much in that short time.

"Nothing good, sir. We've got Dragons Teeth. Lots of them." In large clusters down either hallway were the metal tripods that housed huge metal spikes that would spring up and impale anyone who got near the top. They'd seen these on Eden Prime, and a half dozen frontier worlds out in the Traverse. Alliance soldiers called them dragons teeth not just because they were massive spikes, but because the Geth would often impale people on them.

However, once impaled, the 'Teeth' would begin to transform the liquid organic material into synthetic material. The corpse, once a person, even a friend, would become a skeletal, mindless synthetic Husk that attacked anything nearby that wasn't another Husk or Geth. The name was in reference to Jason and the Argonauts, when Jason had to plow a field and sow it with dragons teeth, but wherever he planted a tooth, a skeletal warrior would rise up and do battle with him.

Same problem here, and many of these Dragons Teeth were occupied.

"Well that's just great. I love bad news on a bad day. Salvage what you can but be quick about it! And keep an eye on those damned Teeth."

"Aye, aye, Sir!" Shadows turned to his men. "Coogan, Deny, there's a med clinic just down the hall from here, see if you can't salvage anything from there, and then meet up at the base of the stairs. Cruse and I will see if the Markets have anything worthwhile. Stuff that can fix us would be good. Stuff that can be made to explode would be better."

They nodded to one another before quickly splitting up. If not for the fact that they were now on the clock, and that the med bay and markets were so close to Flux, Shadows would never have split his men up. So far there were no Geth, but with swarms of Husks soon on the way, speed was better than strength.

He led Cruse through the door to a bunch of clustered little U shaped booths in the Markets, and that's where he discovered where the Geth went. They carefully crept up around the wall, taking cover by a booth near the huge window overlooking the rest of the Citadel, and watched the battle play out.

The Geth had a number of armed civilians and heavily armed C-Sec officers pinned down at the far booths, and both sides were blasting as hard as they could. Fortunately for C-Sec and the patrons, the Geth only had Troopers and a few Shock Troopers with them. Nothing that could out and out blow them up, which would have ended the fight had any of them showed up. Shadows figured all the nearby Rocket Troopers had been sent to deal with Flux.

Counting down from three to one silently with Cruse, they whirled from cover and opened fire on the backs of the main Geth group that had taken cover near their position. Focused as the synthetics were on their targets, they hadn't bothered to look behind them, and the Alliance soldiers brought down shields and hammered lots of armor before they turned around. Shadows quickly tossed a grenade before he ducked back behind his cover, and the resulting explosion made several lines of fire cease.

The remaining Geth turned to combat the more pressing threat, and the C-Sec officers took that opportunity to open up with concentrated fire, and then suddenly there were no more Geth.

Crouching for a moment in the following silence, Shadows and Cruse slowly stood up, weapons ready, to see the C-Sec soldiers and patrons doing the same thing.

"Alliance soldiers?" A Turian called out to them.

"Lieutenant Jack Shadows, Alliance Marines. At your service. And you are?" Shadows asked, heading over to their booths.

"Detective Chellick, C-Sec, and damn glad to see you." Detective Chellick replied, shacking Shadows hand. Five fingered human hand and three fingered Turian hand managed to fit together well as Shadows got a look at Chellick.

Like all Turians he was over six feet tall with their bony, hawk like faces. Chellicks lower chin plates bore white stripe tattoos, and he had bright green eyes, a lot like Shadows. Looking over the others, Shadows noted several Salarians, Asari, a few more Turians, a single surviving Volus, and a bunch of humans. All armed at least, even the short, suited little Volus.

"What's the situation?" Shadows asked. Chellick eyed him. If he'd been human with eyebrows Jack would've said he raised one sarcastically.

"You mean, besides the obvious?" Chellick looked around the decimated and half demolished Wards Marketplace strewn with corpses of both organics and synthetics.

"We have few wounded, but barely half of us are combat trained, and even fewer are wearing armor. There's an unknown number of Geth on the loose, and we need a safe place to relocate to."

"I suggest Flux," Shadows informed the Turian as he looked over the surviving booths for any worthwhile gear, motioning Cruse to do the same thing. "My commander and the rest of our squad is there. My orders are to find either a realistic way out, or some weapons or equipment that will help arm and fortify the position. You're welcome to join us as finding a remotely safe way out is a pipe dream at this point."

"There's no real worthwhile secondary exit from Flux," Chellick frowned the way Turians do, more with their eyes and movable cheeks than with their mouths. "If we go there, we won't be able to get out."

"You already can't get out Detective," Shadows replied, his mind and manner in the cold, defiant mindset it goes to whenever he's up against the grind of odds. Which given the fact that he's an N7 special forces soldier is pretty damn often. Shadows sometimes wondered if the Alliance made the N7 branch simply to try and get soldiers killed for publicity stunts, because they often did a good impression of being almost disappointed whenever he survived.

"What do you mean?"

Shadows gestured across the war zone that had been a thriving market place on the most heavily guarded station in the galaxy.

"The Geth are hammering the Presidium and the Tower, and have enough troops that their spillover forces can launch raids into the Wards that are directly connected to the Presidium Ring." He turned and looked at Chellick.

"You are already surrounded, and they are closing in. All that really matters at this point is where you decide to make you stand." Shadows grinned darkly. "But if you want to try and find a way out of here on a station under siege by a fleet with a beachhead of synthetic killing machines all around you, be my guest." Shadows couldn't help a chuckle. "Good luck."

Chellick glared for a moment, then surprisingly, laughed. "It's been a long time since I was a soldier. As a C-Sec Detective I have to constantly march through the muck of protocol, regulations, bureaucracy, and criminals with sob stories. There are days when I wish I was as hot headed as Garrus. Ha!" He looked over to his men and the huddled survivors, then back to Shadows, grinning in the way only a Turian can. "If we survive this mess, great. If not, at least the fighting will be nice straightforward for a change; us against the evil machines. I can live with that."

Shadows took an instant liking to Chellick. He knew the Turian meant the speech, but also knew it was to keep the morale up among the survivors. Clever guy. Still, he had a job to do in all this.

"Everyone listen up!" The shell shocked survivors and weary C-Sec officers turned to look at him. Chellick gave him an appraising look. "We're heading to the Flux club where we'll hold out against the Geth until help comes." _If it came._ Shadows wasn't so sure, but voicing that would be far from wise. "We'll need every scrap of useful supplies you can carry. Grab the Geth weapons, grab whatever weapons, armors, upgrades or weapon mods you can find. Also any fuel cell canisters or explosives would be excellent. Be quick, we only have a few minutes, if that."

They nodded and set about looking, collecting, making bags out of clothes to carry bulk equipment as Chellick came over to stand beside Shadows.

"Lieutenant Jack Shadows was it?" He asked, looking down at him curiously. Shadows glanced up at him and nodded.

"You really think we'll be able to hold out in Flux?" Shadows shrugged as he watched the work. Given how heavily damaged the Markets were, the survivors were combing through them pretty fast. They would be finished in less than two minutes. Still too long as far as Shadows was concerned; he kept expecting the Husks to come charging in and start tearing at people. He'd sent Cruse to keep an eye on the door and the Dragons Teeth out in the Lobby, and so far they were all still impaled.

"We'll have a much better chance at holding out in the club," he answered, as they finished rounding everything and turned towards them. He motioned them to move towards the door with Chellick and himself in the lead while the C-Sec officers brought up the rear. "We already had a firefight there, and found the main entrance to be very defensible, and the alternate entrances easily barricaded. But really it's a waiting game. We either hold out for the hope that the Citadel Fleet will repel the attacking Geth ships, and that we'll get some reinforcements in time to help us. Or we get overrun, before any of that happens," he looked out the window at the distant explosions.

"If it happens." Chellick chuckled as they moved as quickly as they could through the spike filled lobby to the stairs that led to Flux.

"Not much of a plan, but it's still the best I've heard all day." He glanced at Shadows. "Which, as you humans say, is just sad." Both of them chuckled as they reached the stairs, Cruse taking point to make sure nothing was waiting for them, which it turned out, wasn't.

Noticing movement at the far end of the left hobby, he quietly pointed it out to Chellick as he switched to his sniper rifle and sighted in the scope. What he saw made him smile.

"It's about time you guys showed up!" He called over the radio.

"Sorry Lieutenant. We had some last minute shopping to do." Corporal Coogan radioed back, just before they rounded some stairs and got close enough for voice. Both he and Private Deny were loaded down with supplies, and a small line of people similarly burdened were following them. There were some more C-Sec officers, mostly Asari and Turian by the look of it, with a few human civilians.

"You find the med supplies?" Shadows asked as the second group came up with the first. Coogan grinned.

"Better," he replied, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at a woman behind him. "Found us a medic." She was a slight, red headed, green eyed woman wearing the red and white full body suit of a doctor. She nodded to Shadows.

"Dr. Chloe Michel, at your service Lieutenant. Your men arrived just as a squad of Geth were getting ready to overwhelm and kill us in my clinic." Shadows nodded back. He couldn't quite place her accent, but she spoke well enough that his translator didn't need to get involved.

"Glad to have you with us Dr. Michel, you and the others should head up the stairs to Flux. That's where we're all gathering to hold out against the Geth until help arrives." Nodding, she and the others began heading up the stairs. The C-Sec officers glanced at Chellick who nodded in affirmation before heading up the stairs as well. Coogan and Denny took up guard positions at either side of the staircase, leaving Shadows and Chellick to stand and watch the progress.

Just as it was about finished, Jack noticed more faint movement from where Coogans group had come. Zooming in with his rifle scope, he cursed when he focused on the tell-tale flashlight faces of Geth soldiers.

"Company coming!" He snapped off a shot before folding up the rifle and switching back to his assault rifle. Chellick, Coogan and Denny began retreating slowly up the stairs with him, covering the last of the supplies group as they headed up the stairs. Shadows brought up his omni-tool, and after quickly scanning through some files, activated one.

"Oh no, you're not going to play more of your music are you Sir?" Denny asked, noticing what he was doing. They couldn't let the Geth take the stairs or the doorway to the hallway until the civilians and the supplies were safely in Flux, which meant they had to try and hold the synthetics off for a time.

Looking over at Denny, Shadows smiled grimly.

"If I'm going to die, I'm going to die listening to good music." With that, Jimi Hendrix's _All along the Watchtower_ started, just as the Geth got into weapons range.

Shadows, Chellick and the Marines opened up on the Geth, dropping a few Troopers before some Shock Troopers fired back, forcing them up the stairs to the other side of the doors for better cover. The civilians had all nearly reached Flux, but were slowed by their burdens and the barricade of Geth bodies at the stairs.

Chellick, Shadows and his men fought hard. They ended up dropping nearly a dozen Geth before being forced to abandon the doors when a Geth Sniper and another pair of Geth Rocketers showed up.

Shadows tossed a few High Explosive Grenades out onto the lobby stairs as he and the others sprinted back towards the club. Halfway there Shadows heard and vaguely felt the explosions go off, and knew they had only seconds before the surviving Geth charged through the door. At least the song was appropriate.

He couldn't help but smile as he reached the stairs, the music still playing.


	5. Round Two

As soon as Shadows and the others started running back towards the Club, Cauthon readied his men stationed behind the barricade. Mostly they were the rest of his squad; commanded by Sgt. Keagon, along with several Asari volunteers. Most of the patrons were armed now, but Cauthon had chosen these for the barricade to help bolster their biotic ranks, giving them a sharper edge against the purely tech based Geth. All Asari had biotics, which was useful in a situation like this, but these particular Asari had all had Commando training at some point in their centuries long lives.

Even before Shadows, the rest of his squad, and some Turian reached the base of the stairs, Geth Troopers and Shock Troopers started pouring through the doors, identifying and locking on to targets faster than any organic could. Unfortunately for them, they weren't faster than bullets; it helped to know where to aim at before an enemy even entered a room. Cauthon's men laid down heavy suppressing fire, covering Shadows group while dropping Geth soldiers wholesale. The Geth had no choice but to return fire and retreat, for the moment.

Shadows group made it up the stairs and over the barricade just as Rocketers started firing quick shots from the doors. Taking cover behind the piled up Geth bodies, the explosion impacts didn't hurt them, but they did stun them slightly. Shadows was switching to his sniper rifle and the biotics were ready to unleash gravity hell, the only thing Cauthon was wondering about was why Shadows had his omni-tool playing some random song. Still, it didn't get in the way of his order to open up on the Geth pouring into the hallway!

Shadows dropped a Rocketer as the other opened fire. Geth Troopers were gunned downed in droves as Shock Troopers generated blue body sized hexagon kinetic shields to soak up fire as they repaired or returned fire. The biotics Threw, Lifted, Warped, one Asari even used a Singularity. Every last ounce of strength on both sides was pitted against one another, all to damage and kill the synthetic soldiers before they killed the desperate organic soldiers and volunteers hiding and fighting behind a pile of metal bodies.

The rocket exploded on the wall behind them, stunning some biotics, but leaving the rest of the defenders fine, if a little shaken up. Shadows fired once more, and after a second rocket blast, no more followed. Then an armed salarian next to him suddenly has his head explode! Shaking the brains and green blood from his eyes, Shadows zoomed in and fired back in response.

Cauthon fired blast after blast from his assault rifle, hammering through several kinetic barriers. He usually aimed for the chest, larger target, better chance to hit it, N7 training or no, but Shadows was right; those flashlight faces on the Geth make for exceptionally good targets.

Keagon was every inch a veteran marine sergeant under fire; yelling at his men, dropping one enemy after another, calling out encouragement, compliments, insults and threats that melded together so perfectly it sounded like its own language. Wherever a hole started to form when the Geth dropped a defender, he covered it until a new defender could take their place from the club.

Grim business, but the continuous fire was the only thing keeping the horde of Geth at bay.

Cauthon risked a quick look over the field, his shields taking a few hits before he ducked back down; those damn robots were one and all near crack shots each! What he saw though nearly froze his blood; one bright red armored Geth Juggernaut flanked by two yellow and black armored Geth Destroyers!

All three were over eleven feet tall, heavily armored and shielded, and could repair themselves if given enough time. They were also marching lock step down the hall, blasting away with their pulse rifle and pulse shotguns, just before the Juggernaut fired a short range rocket from its modified weapon.

The defenders ducked as the blast went off, and Cauthon realized this was the final push. All the other Geth units had either been destroyed outright or were damaged to the point that they weren't a threat any longer. But those three monsters might be more than they could handle if they got in close. He needed them kept at distance, and to blast them apart. Planning on the fly as Keagon got the defenders back up and firing like mad, he signaled Shadows and the biotics over the comm beads.

"Listen up! Shadows, when I give the order, I want you to drop the shields on those monsters as best you can. At the same time, all biotics are to throw Geth corpses against them as hard as you can. The Destroyers and Juggernauts are fairly resistant to biotics unless we hammer their defenses down, so just use the debri around them as battering rams." While he ordered them he reached down to the case attached to his right thighs armor and took out his remaining four grenades.

"We are going to force them back into the wall at the end of the hallway, bury them in robot bodies, and bioticly launch grenades at them, which they won't be able to escape or dodge." He looked around the scared, weary faces, meeting their eyes as they fired or sought cover. "Clear?" They all nodded.

Cauthon motioned, and they all took up their positions. The Geth destroyers and Juggernaut were almost halfway down the hall, and despite Keagon and the defenders efforts, their shields were still up. Cauthon closed his eyes and readied his mind, for both the plan, and for yet another display of biotics, which is hard to do on a near nonstop basis.

Opening his eyes he gave the signal to Shadows.

"Covering fire!" Shadows shouted. The order was repeated by Keagon, and the fire intensified, the soldiers holding nothing back, their weapons risking overheating and briefly shutting down to vent.

Waiting a few precious seconds, Shadows whirled up over the barricade, and fired once, then without ducking back down, fired again. His sniper rifle could get two shots off in rapid succession before it forcibly shuts down briefly for overheating.

All the combatants had this feature on their weapons, so extras had been set about barricade for quick and easy reach to keep the rate of fire high and continuous. He ducked down, grabbed a second rifle, jumped back up, and fired two more shots before ducking down again, as did the defenders.

Standing up, Cauthon and all the other biotics lit up with the blue of dark energy, and they began throwing a veritable avalanche of Geth corpses against the coming Geth giants. Cauthon marveled at the precise, near perfect shots of Shadows; all had been head shots, each Destroyer and been hit once while the Juggernaut had been hit twice, dragging all their shields down to critical, near nonexistent levels. Being pelted with heavy metal bodies at high speeds damaged them, and slowed them. Once their shields had been torn down, the biotics again pushed hard, this time with the defenders all firing at will.

The pile of Geth bodies, with the Destroyers and Juggernaut inside them were shoved up against the wall at the end of the hall. Gasping for some breath, and getting a shot of adrenaline from his armor to boost him, Cauthon bioticly grabbed and threw four grenades at high speeds down the hall, having them land inside the pile.

Everyone ducked, and a massive explosion went off that nearly knocked them over even behind a barricade! And suddenly, there was quiet.

No shouting, no shooting, just the sound of silence.

Catching his breath, Cauthon stood and looked at the battlefield. The Geth bodies were still mostly intact despite the concentrated explosions. The Geth made their soldiers tough, he would give them that. But they were no longer moving, they all had extensive damage, and were what passed for dead.

"Sergeant," he began, turning away from the field. "Secure those doors! I want to know the minute more reinforcements start coming."

"Yes sir," Keagon replied, turning towards the weary line of defenders.

"Commander," the C-Sec Turian that had come in with Jack called from the club. Cauthon had sent the C-Sec officers inside the club, deciding they would make an excellent fallback force if his men were driven from or overrun on the barricade. And because in truth they were all essentially cops, and this was soldiers work.

"Can I help you mister..?" Cauthon asked, looking the Turian up and down as he came over to him.

"Detective Chellick," Chellick answered. "Please, let my men secure the doors. Yours are either wounded or exhausted, and we don't need any special training to shout and run when a Geth horde shows up." Chellick gestured to the other C-Sec officers behind him, mostly Turian and Asari, with a few Salarians mixed in. All were currently much better off than his own men, who need some rest at the very least.

"Sir, we're good to go." Keagon protested, heading over to stand next to Chellick, which rewarded Cauthon with the sight of a Turian having to look a human in the eye, as Keagon was a natural six foot eight inch tall, blonde, blue eyed, 280 pound throwback to Norse Berserkers. His men had nicknamed him the Titan, which suited him quite well. Originally it had been the Yeti, given his hair color and height, but after he'd saved them from a Krogan mercenary squad with barely a scratch, they'd changed it.

Chellick didn't back down, insisting that the Alliance Marines needed rest, and his men could do simple recon and observation. Put like that, Cauthon had to agree.

_It's one of the things cops excelled at after all; watching, taking notes, and running off to superiors._ Cauthon thought, darkly amused as he ordered Keagon to stand down and get some rest, get any injuries treated, as well as check weapons and armor. He sent a small squad of four other C-Sec officers, a Turian, a pair of Asari, and a Salarian off to secure and cover the wards entrance stairs.

They headed there and after confirming no Geth presence, took up defensive positions. Cauthon then ordered the Club civilians to begin carrying Geth bodies over to the stairs to help reinforce the barricade, and even block up the bottom of the stairs as well. He had Shadows make an inventory list for all explosives, whether standard issue or ones that could be improvised like H-fuel cell canisters which weren't much bigger than a human leg calve.

He was walking back into the club with Shadows and Chellick, looking out the window to the Citadel, and the battle beyond it, when he noticed something. Pointing it out to Shadows, they all just stopped and stared in stunned silence.

The Citadel was closing.

Normally the five Ward arms of the Citadel, which were each basically thirty mile long cities were spread apart, connected by the Presidium Ring. However, should the masters of the Citadel desire, those arms could be closed, sealed up together creating a seed-like appearance of the Citadel. The material used in the construction of the Citadel was like the material used for Mass Relays, and is nearly indestructible. So when the Citadel closed, a fleet could bombard the thing for a week and barely make a dent in the outer shell.

"I never thought I would live to see this." Cauthon muttered in shock.

Shadows shook his head, his eyes riveted on the sight as much as Cauthons, as the massive arms, the inside of each covered in the lights of cities that looked like so much strings of diamonds, slowly came together.

"I don't think anyone has seen this in living memory, Asari and Krogan included, and those two can both live for a thousand years each." Slowly, the massive arms moved to seal the station off from the invading Geth. Cauthon idly wondered why it had taken them so long to seal the place off.

"A sight we will probably never see again." Chellick replied. His own bony face staring in open wonder.

"The hell is that?" Shadows suddenly snapped, pointing towards the very center, where the tips of the Wards were getting ready to meet. Squinting only at first as the object was heading their way, Cauthon made out a massive black shape that got inside just as the Citadel closed. As the ship got closer, he made out more details, and suddenly recognized it.

"That's the ship that attacked Eden Prime!" He thought back furiously to the reports he'd read, some submitted by his onetime squad partner Commander Shepard. "The Reaper Sovereign, I think it's called."

"I remember those reports," Shadows replied, watching at the black metal, massive ship came seemingly right towards them. "Sentient AI ships that are responsible for galactic extinctions. I was really hoping those were just legends."

"I think we all were," Cauthon made out the details on the massive dreadnought, and noticed its arms starting to move. The Citadel had closed, but with this two kilometer long ship inside it, the whole point was moot.

"The thing looks like a damn spider!" Shadows snapped.

Cauthon had to agree with Shadows statement, and from the reports he'd been cleared to read about Shepards claims of what the Reapers were, and the purpose of the Mass Relays, which basically put a damn web on the whole galaxy, the analogy was more apt than one might think.

Because everything shifted when the Citadel closed, Cauthon, Shadows and Chellick were able to watch as Sovereign spread its, _legs,_ and latched onto the top of the Citadel Tower. Oddly enough, it was just the way Cauthon had seen spiders latch on to sticks or twigs when coming down off strands of webs, which only made the whole thing even creepier.

"We're all so screwed," Chellick stated, and neither Cauthon nor Shadows could disagree with him at that moment. Shaking himself almost forcefully, Cauthon turned away from the terrifying sight.

"Whether we are or not, we have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. And Chellick," Chellick looked at him, his face had the look of a lost man to it. "Even if this is our last hour, I will not go quietly. I will make them work for my death. Will you?"

The Turian blinked his bright green eyes once, shook his head a little, and nodded, standing straighter as he did so. "It would be my pleasure, Commander."

"Same here sir. Without question." Cauthon looked at the two and nodded, before leading them over to a table to begin outlying his plan.


	6. The Dark Holiday

Truthfully it was a fairly simple plan, involving a large metal hallway and lots of explosives. Well, that was the main part of it anyway.

Thanks to Shadows scouting team, and to Doran keeping Flux well stocked, they had a lot of grenades and H-fuel cell canisters that could be rigged up pretty much any way Cauthon wanted them to be to explode when the Geth came down the hallway. He figured they would send a lot of troops to get the job done this time, so the barricade and the explosive hallway would cut down on the numbers, but he wasn't confident it could stop them.

He'd had the club patrons rearrange tables, chairs, and even the Quasar gambling terminals on the second floor into more barricades or walls. The plan was for the bombs to be set in the hallway to slow and thin the initial Geth wave, and have the marines on the barricade to hammer the reinforcements. But in the event that the Geth numbers proved too many, as was likely when he glanced out the window at the massive Reaper clinging to the tower, they would set some reserve explosives on the barricade and fall back inside the club.

After that it would be up to the defenses to hold the Geth at the door and dance floor, which in this new setting were natural killing grounds. Should the Geth make it through all of that, it would pretty much be close quarters hand to hand, and if they still kept coming… He stopped there and just sighed.

"Should've stayed in bed," Shadows muttered, looking out the window at the simultaneously amazing sight of the closed citadel, and the horrifying view of the Reaper.

"Would that have made a difference?" Chellick asked, looking from the window to Shadows and Cauthon.

"Doubt it," Shadows replied, shrugging. He turned back to Cauthon. "I'll get Coogan to start making up the charges. I'll have him make some that are remote detonated, and others that are proximity." He saluted Cauthon before heading off to get to work.

"I can have my men provide some of the labor of setting up the bombs, and we can cover the entrance to the wards. It will help to let your men rest a bit longer, and to let Dr. Michel finish patching them up." Chellick volunteered.

"And when the Geth force attacks?" Cauthon asked.

"We'll fight at the door for awhile. The stairs there are just as good a defensible position as the stairs to the club, and it will help thin a few of them out. After that, I think we all trust in Alliance Marine marksmanship at this point to trust your men to cover us as we sprint back to cover." Chellick and Cauthon chuckled and shook hands before the Turian Detective went off to gather his men and follow Jack out into the hallway.

Cauthon gave orders for the barricades to be made in the club, and had Keagon set up the supplies at the door to the club, but after that he found himself in full armor, sitting at the one untouched table by the window, with nothing really to do. The other tables and chairs were either being used in barricades or as operating tables for Dr. Michel and her volunteer assistants. The stairs outside in the hallway had been barricaded both at the top and bottom with Geth bodies from earlier waves, and the remaining ones he assumed would be used as camouflage for explosives.

Doran, the Volus owner of the club came over to stand with him. For a moment he too was transfixed by the sight out the window, before turning to look over his club. It had certainly changed a lot in the last few hours, and Cauthon had to wonder at just how fast the world, _any_ world could shift when it wanted to. He smiled bitterly; his ex-wife had taught him that lesson well enough. He idly wondered how his kids were doing.

"As I've heard some humans say, you are an island of tranquility," Doran remarked, looking at Cauthon before motioning around his club, "in a sea of chaos."

"I'm just enjoying the privilege of being the boss," Cauthon chuckled.

"And what's that?"

"Getting other people to do the work for you." Doran chuckled at that, his rotund suit bouncing a little with him. He looked back up at Cauthon, and Cauthon would've sworn he was staring intently, but with the full body pressure suits they had to wear, it was anyone's guess.

"Without you and your men Commander, we would all be dead right now." Cauthon shrugged almost dejectedly, glancing back out the window at that blasted Reaper.

"We may still end up there anyway." Doran shook his head however.

"Even if we do, we can go knowing we fought and stood tall. Knowing we did everything we could, and not being slaughtered like animals from a surprise attack." Cauthon looked back at the little volus in surprise. "I know that the Vol-clan can be seen as cowardly by more militant races like your Earth-clan, but we can fight too, if there is no better option." At this point he held up a shotgun he'd gotten from somewhere, and cocked it.

"This is still my club, and no synthetic bastards are getting it without a fight." Cauthon had to smile. The speech, and obvious sincerity and courage of an alien barely half his height had shaken him out of his stupor.

And it had given him an idea as well.

He asked Doran about it, and the shotgun toting club owner loved it. He quickly went off to set it up as Cauthon checked on the progress of the various groups. The barricades in the club had been finished, and by now everyone was armed, with spare weapons in easy reach behind the barricades or bar. Jack and Coogan had finished rigging up the explosives, and Chellicks men had finished setting most of them up. The second floor that housed the gambling machines was also ready, and was probably the best defensive position in the club.

He intended to have the C-Sec officers use that location to give support and covering fire when his men had to fall back, and they even had some asair biotics and a few explosives they could lob as makeshift artillery. Dr. Michel had finished with all the patients that could be saved, and the ones that couldn't had already died; Geth weapons were very good at inflicting massive injury. Their bodies had been moved to the far wall behind the ground floor barricade, and covered. She was muttering about never wanting to be a military medic in the first place.

After completing his tour, he called his men, the patrons, and whatever C-Sec officers that weren't watching the wards doorway or setting up bombs, into a large gathering in the club.

He figured it was time to give a speech. According to Shadows he was pretty good at them, but personally he'd never cared for it. Still, it would help in these dark hours, and like the old saying went, he would take any help he could get.

"Among my people, we have a few traditions for occasions such as these," he began, finding his footing as he spoke. "Occasions that may well be the last time you see the person next to you, or the last hours you may well be alive." He gestured towards the bar, and Doran and a human waitress were behind it, setting up drinks. Two other waitresses were walking around with trays, all containing shots of liquor. One of them had been selected to carry a tray with Turian alcohol in it, so that all could enjoy their last drink.

"I had plans for a lot of things in my life, for how I would spend my days," he went on, taking a drink turning in a slow circle, to look at the whole of the crowd around him. "This was not among them. But now the only thing I want, is to be able to live the next few minutes well."

"No one knows how their life is going to turn out, or how their story will be told, if it's told. But how we act when the galaxy throws a surprise at us is what defines us, it's what people remember the most about us. I know what I will do. I will fight to stay alive against all who would challenge that right. The Geth here are challenging our right to walk among the stars and their many wonders." He allowed real passion into his voice.

"More than that, they are challenging our very right to live as free beings. I will not surrender, I will not bow, I will not bend, I will not break, I will not go quietly into the night. I will not vanish without a fight. I will fight to survive their challenge, but if I should not, I can promise one thing; I will not go down easily, and I will not go alone!" His soldiers, and many of the C-Sec officers cheered at this.

"Those of you here, I have seen you fight, seen you stubbornly keep moving on when so many others would be holding their heads, crying in fear or shock. I am proud to stand alongside each of you!" He looked around the room. "Will you stand with me? Will you defend your right to survive? To walk amongst the infinite wonders of this galaxy?"

The cheer was loud, almost desperate. He could see it; they were all afraid, most of them on the brink of shutting down, of giving up. But now they were listening, now they were looking at him.

"Join me now in a toast. A toast of defiance to Death! A toast of respect for our honored dead; those who fought beside us with courage and dignity. And a toast to life!" He held his glass up, looking around the room. "For all the wonders life can bring, for all the reasons that make being alive worth the price!"

"To life, to death, to honor and glory, to our loved ones, our homes, our friends," he looked around them one last time, lowering his drink. "To all the many reasons that we will fight for, risk our lives for, and live for. Salute."

They all drank, and in the moment of silence that followed, Shadows stepped forward, saluted, and asked permission to make a toast as well. Cauthon gave it, and Shadows got a refill for the Renegade squad, and, surprisingly, the C-Sec officers in the room.

"This is a toast for those who wear the uniform," he said, looking around as Will had done, but mostly at the marines and C-Sec. "We went through training, swore oaths, and often see the worst the galaxy has to offer. But though we don't always admit it, a part of us loves it." He smiled a knowing smile, and the others returned it.

"This is sometimes called the Dark Holiday. Where even in the most dire of moments, a piece of us revels in it, for we never feel more alive than when we are walking the razors edge of death. That lonely impulse of delight, that makes you fight that much harder, and life taste that much sweeter." He raised his glass, quiet intensity giving his words weight.

"Hold the dark holiday in your palms. Drink it, swallow it and survive. Come out the far black tunnel of War, and be glad, oh so glad you are alive!" Laughing or cheering, they drank their toast. Everyone else was chuckling as well, or at least smiling.

Cauthon then stepped in and ordered everyone to take up their positions, and get ready for the next wave. The crowd broke up, but though their hope was near gone, their nerve and courage were not. They would fight, and fight well.

And not before time, as the C-Sec officers at the door reported movement. Everyone hurriedly finished getting to their positions, with Chellick running forward to his men, and the Renegades readying at the main barricade. Cauthon also had most of the biotics crammed in with the marines behind the top and bottom stair barricades.

He was getting ready to have everyone take cover when Chellick radioed something he hadn't even known he'd been dreading; the Dragons Teeth were closing up their spikes. The impaled victims were lowering, and some were shuffling around.

He groaned miserably; the Husks were loose, and in play.

Author's Note: Hey folks, hope you're enjoying the story. Don't worry, the next post will wrap up the Flux Battle, and then it's on to the wider galaxy with some of the survivors!

For those who didn't catch it, which is probably most, Jack Shadows was paraphrasing a line from The Halloween Tree. Great book, excellent movie, I highly recommend both, and the movie can be found on youtube as I understand. The Dark Holiday was originally Halloween, as it celebrates death and fears, but War is an excellent stand in as well.

Please, review, and enjoy! The final battle in this last stand will be along shortly!


	7. The Last Hurrah

"Open fire on them right now Chellick!" Cauthon ordered, looking around at the biotics, planning on the fly.

"Are you sure Commander?" Chellick asked, surprised.

_Of course_, Cauthon thought frantically. _He's never seen what a bunch of husks can do face to face!_ He had on the other hand, and was utterly uninterested in repeating the encounters.

"Absolutely!" Cauthon snapped, choosing out several soldiers. "You start firing and don't let up! Keep those things from the hallway as long as possible! Wipe out as many as you can, and don't let them close! They will literally tear you apart as soon as you're in arms reach!"

"Understood Commander." Chellick answered calmly. Glancing up front Cauthon could see them opening fire, hammering away with assault rifles and pistols. He ordered four biotics, all armed with shotguns; a human woman and three asari, forward to join Chellick and help keep the husks at bay for as long as possible.

He sent word to Chellick they'd be coming, and then he had to sit and wait. A tense wait with the steady sound of gunfire and biotic explosions, alongside his men crouched in cover, all waiting for the enemy. Gradually, the fire from Chellicks men became faster, more frantic. Cauthon figured that by now they were learning that husks didn't die so easily. Much as he would like to, he didn't dare send more reinforcements, it would put too many out of position.

The Geth had to just be waiting to charge.

"Guess the Geth had to start using their brains sooner or later, eh Commander?" Shadows remarked. Cauthon chuckled.

"Use the Husks to soften us up, demoralize us, and clear any landmines along the way. Clever bastards."

"Think we'll be able to salvage the hallway explosives?"

"Depends on Chellick and his men, if they can reduce the number enough, the plan should still work." Even as he said that, C-Secs gunfire up front became even more frantic. Cauthon figured they'd be pulling back soon. Still, they were holding out as best they could. He was actually impressed.

"Hey Shadows," Cauthon asked suddenly, grinning. "When the Geth start charging in, play some music while we take 'em down." His men groaned sarcastically.

Shadows had been sent on a lot of solo missions with bad odds, and one of the tactics he'd started utilizing was hacking sound systems or communication systems and playing music over them while he fought. The Renegades had grown accustomed to it, and even enjoyed it, it was just that Shadows music collection was a bit odd, and they enjoyed making fun of it.

"I've got just the one sir." Shadows smiled, bringing up his omni-tool, and going through the list. While Shadows was playing DJ, Cauthon received the signal from Chellick that his men were pulling back. There was still a whole swarm of husks, numbering in the high twenties or low thirties, but the vast majority they could see had been taken out. Cauthon was fairly impressed at how calmly Chellick was acting under the circumstances, especially in the face of what Cauthon considered to essentially amount to what he called 'Space Zombies.'

"Marines, biotics, at the ready!" He shouted out, and everyone readied their weapons as the near dozen C-Sec officers and biotic recruits came running down the hallway. A few seconds later the Husks came running in behind them. No matter how many times Cauthon saw them, and it had been getting more frequent of late, he never got completely used to how repulsive those things were.

They were like synthetic corpses, blue lights that shined out from beneath their synthetic skin. They were literally like zombies, only more like robot zombies. They didn't speak, only groaned and moaned, which made them all the creepier. In close quarters they could generate an electrical shock that would take down shields, then attack and beat you until they beat you to death, or until you killed them.

Cauthon personally found them freaky, disgusting, and annoying as all hell. They took a lot of fire, demoralized the men, and could be used to rush fortified positions. They were the perfect cannon fodder. They didn't talk back or feel pain, they didn't feel fear, they just rushed in and tried to get close enough to tear you apart.

_Like ants really_. He thought darkly as Shadows and the few other sharpshooters they had opened up, trying to slow the blue glowing nightmares.

The C-Sec unit had to thread a narrow path through the hallway, since it was littered with Geth bodies and various explosives, which slowed their ability to run considerably. The husks stumbled around the door for a moment before catching sight of the retreating officers, and then they started sprinting after them. The rear guard turned out to be two asari who stopped and biotically threw several of the husks into others behind them. One husk moved in close, avoiding the biotic attacks by dumb luck, only to be blasted to pieces by their shotguns.

Still more husks were moving in through the door, and the others were picking themselves up. The asari wisely turned and went back to running away.

"Marines, covering fire!" Cauthon called out, sighting with his pistol and opening fire. With the C-Sec squad just reaching the first barricade at the base of the stairs, the marines had to choose their targets carefully. Shadows was dropping targets with a single shot, and the squads were hammering as best they could, but the husks were pushing forward regardless.

"Hey I've got something I've been wanting to try Commander," Keagon shouted out over the thundering noise of guns. He reached down to a small stack of weapons he'd set up near him, and picked up a Geth rocket launcher. Turning, he sighted it at the end of the hallway, where the husks were concentrated the most, and fired.

Unprepared for the recoil, it knocked him over, but he quickly got back up. The rocket flew forward and impacted into the crowd of synthetic corpses! It also set off two of the explosives they'd rigged up, making the explosion even bigger and more devastating.

The shockwave was of course directed by the hallway, and stunned the defenders while knocking the surviving husks to ground.

"I love this gun!" Keagon called out, half bleary from the blast wave. The few whose ears weren't ringing chuckled at that.

"You know," Shadows called out in the brief silence that followed. "Whenever these things show up, I feel like I'm going from a high quality sci-fi vid of fighting killer robots, to a cheap horror flick about space zombies!" Everyone had a shaky laugh for that.

"Need to fire the director!" Keagon called back.

"The director?" Cauthon replied, amused. "No, no, it's the writer you want."

"Point him out to me in a crowd sometime then, sir, so I know where to aim!" Shadows joked as he sighted in on the last few remaining husks, dropping one before concentrated fire dropped the remaining ones.

"Get up and over C-Sec!" Cauthon shouted down as they climbed over the barricade, heading up the stairs. He wanted them in position in the club so his men could have covering fire when they pulled back. Chellick nodded to him as led his men into the club.

"We'll be having company soon boys and girls, and I want them to enjoy all the hospitality that Alliance Marines are known for!" They cheered at that.

"We'll greet them in the traditional human fashion sir!" Keagon shouted, picking up a fresh launcher while the other cooled. "With open arms and loaded guns!"

"Hell yeah!" Coogan called out, the men cheering at that. The cheers were cut short when Shadows suddenly opened fire on the door, dropping a Geth trooper who had just entered!

Black armored Geth troopers began pouring in, firing as they did, and the marines and few C-Sec volunteers on the barricades fired back. Ducking after another shot and moving slightly, Shadows glanced at Cauthon, smiled, and hit his omni-tool, starting the song he'd chosen.

"And what exactly are you playing?" He shouted. Cauthon grinned in a way that was charming and infuriating.

"_Clubbed to Death_ from the _Matrix_, Sir!" Cauthon had to roll his eyes, but the music wasn't loud, and with the gunfire and shouting, it took on more of the undertone heartbeat of the fight.

His plan called for the Geth to swarm into the hallway, for it to be near full of them, so they had a lot of work to do beforehand to make them commit.

The Geth swarmed in, firing, only to be cut down by heavy return fire. Geth Troopers were blown apart by concentrated assault rifle fire, and they were unable to gain any real ground, though several defenders had to dodge more than once or be cut in half from pulse rifle fire. Then the Shock Troopers began mixing in with them, and they generated their blue hexagon kinetic barriers in front of them, giving them time for reinforcements to collect behind them.

Keagon fired one rocket after another from the stack of rocket launchers he'd acquired. Shadows fired off quick, precise rounds that always dropped their target, while Cauthon led the biotics in deadly gravity attacks that cut swathes through the bottled up Geth. But the fighting wasn't one way, not against machines that had no fear, and could have near perfect aim even in real world firefights.

Two C-Sec officers, a salarian and human were each cut down, both on the upper barricades near Cauthon. An asari from the club on the lower barricade threw a Shock trooper into the wall before a sniper put a hole in her chest. She died before she even knew she was dead. Private Wason took a hit in the shoulder, his shields had already taken too many hits, and though his armor took the brunt of it, he was still knocked over.

Cauthon watched him apply medi-gel, which clotted up the wound and stopped the bleeding, allowing him to get back up and keep firing, for now. They had lots of the stuff, their armor even had several small packets equipped in them, except that the Geth tended to kill their targets outright when they got their crosshairs on them. Firing his pistol as he rested from the biotic attacks he'd been dishing out, he took stock.

Dozens of Geth soldiers; troopers, shock troopers, rocketers, and snipers had been dropped. But now they were a third of the way in, and nearly two dozen shock troopers had generated hexagon kinetic barriers forming a layered wall. This shield-wall was soaking up fire while they marshaled a large force, readying to charge all at once.

All of which would finally be what he wanted them to do.

"Get ready Marines!" He called out, firing at the shields. He'd told them to open fire hard when he called that, to trick the Geth into thinking they were just going to shoot until they were overrun. A cheap trick, but it might be good enough to fool synthetic minds based solely on logic.

They brought down a few of the shields, hammering a few Shock troopers before all the barriers were dropped and they charged in!

Rocketers opened fire while Shock troopers and whatever standard troopers were left attacked. Everyone ducked by the much hammered barricades, and the Geth came charging in while rockets sailed over their heads, impacting on the walls or stairs, stunning and disorienting. Blue pulse blasts hammered the barricades or walls behind them, all concentrated to keep them pinned down as they closed in for the kill.

Cauthon smiled, and pressed a button on his omni-tool display.

Explosions went off on either side of the Geth, compressed and reinforced by the hallway, with extra shrapnel from the fallen troopers. Proximities were armed, which promptly went off when a large enough group passed by in their fields. Others were remote detonated, and Cauthon peeked up briefly to hammer one group, and then the next, until all was fire, smoke, and then suddenly, silence.

His men stood up and mowed down the remainder, and for a moment, he thought it done.

Then Shadows shouted out, "Juggernauts!"

He fired his sniper rifle in rapid succession, dropping the shields on the first red armored, eleven foot tall monster to enter the room. Keagon, having gotten the hang of the rocket launchers by now, finished it off, only to see another move around the doorway.

Cauthon knew they needed to fall back, and funnel the metal bastards through the narrow door into the club. He was loath to give up his position, but all the explosives had been used, and the Juggernauts and Destroyers were close enough that they could simply walk through their fire and kill them before they could all be brought down.

"Team one, fall back!" He called, and the marines and officers behind the barricade at the base of the stairs broke cover, running up the stairs to climb over the barricade. They would head into the club, take up new positions, and cover the last group to leave the barricades.

"Covering fire!" Shadows yelled out as Juggernauts and Destroyers began charging through the door, firing. Two more C-Sec officers, neither with much armor were cut down on the stairs. The marines on the upper barricade fired with abandon, while the biotics threw heavy metal corpses at them, but it all only succeeded in slowing the massive troopers down.

The last of the soldiers made it over the barricade and ran for the club. Firing, his pistol, really wanting to switch to his shotgun, Cauthon ordered the withdraw.

"Sergeant!" He nearly shouted over the gunfire, leaning down to Keagon. "I want our guests to receive the full marine experience! Make sure those charges are set, and then get your big ass back into the club!"

"You got it sir!" Keagon yelled back, firing another rocket, and successfully dropping a Juggernaut, though there were still three more of them, and four more Destroyers, all nearly at the base of the stairs with full shields and blazing weapons. In the back he saw some more coming in, with some more Shock troopers even.

Growling, he fell back, leaving Keagon to arm the various grenades and fuel cell canisters, along with two soldiers to cover him. It was short work, but not short enough when Private Carlita Aldrez took a blast from a Destroyers shotgun, cutting through her shields, shredding her armor and nearly slicing her in half in a single moment. She was dead before she hit the floor.

Cauthon had already headed up the stairs to the second floor in Flux when he saw it. He blinked once in shock at the loss, then pulled himself over the barricade to join Jack and half of his surviving unit.

Keagon and Private David Volket, a biotic, turned and sprinted into the club, heading to the barricade over by the bar. Volket turned briefly and bioticly pitched the table Will had sat at earlier through the door, hard enough to knock a Destroyer over. Turning he sprinted over to the barricade and flung himself behind the bar, just in time.

Bringing up his omni-tool, Cauthon waited until a second Destroyer had entered the club and started taking fire before activating the last of the charges they'd set up around the barricades. The detonation was load and powerful, being far more contained than even the ones in the hallway.

The Destroyer that had made it through the door was knocked over, and blasted to death before it could even get back up. When the smoke cleared, a single, damaged Juggernaut stumbled to the door, receiving a similar treatment. Shadows wanted it to be over, but he remembered the reinforcements he saw while pulling back, and knew better.

He shouted for everyone to get ready.

The wait was not long, as two more destroyers and another Juggernaut ran through the doors, firing as they did. Their shots blew holes in the makeshift barricade on the first floor, flinging tables, chairs, a few Geth bodies and several people in all directions. The patrons held and fired back. Chellick and his surviving C-Sec officers even chucked a few jury rigged explosives over the edge towards the door.

Cauthon and the other biotics caught those explosives and biotically threw them straight into the chests of the Geth super soldiers!

Shadows, having switched to his pistol was laying into a Destroyers head, while Keagon traded a Juggernaut shots with their rocket launchers. Cauthon grabbed the last of the grenades from an armory box, activated them, and upon calling for covering fire threw them at the nearby Geth!

Everyone ducking, the grenades went off, and the last of them were finished.

Looking up he caught sight of some surviving Shock troopers by the door, and was aiming for them when in marched a huge, white armored, twelve foot tall Geth Prime! Sighting on what was left of the bottom floor barricade, it opened fire and blasted it to pieces, most of the people dying or being severely wounded as he did. Taking hits from return fire and utterly ignoring them, the synthetic behemoth turned and fired on the second floor, walking into the club as it did so.

Most of the Shock troops had been killed by the return fire, but if the Prime wasn't destroyed, it would kill them all on its own.

"Take that bastard down!" Cauthon called out when his ears stopped ringing from the explosions of the Primes fire. It was advancing on Keagons position behind the bar, blasting as it did so. Shadows looked once, took a breath, and then jumped when it got close enough!

He grabbed onto its long neck, pistol in hand and firing at point blank range as he did so. His weight and momentum forced the Prime to swivel, giving Keagon a chance to get out from the behind the bar where most everyone else was either dead, wounded, or unconscious. Once out he charged the Prime with his assault rifle in hand!

Shadows was still climbing about on its shoulders, shooting it while trying to dodge its arms. Cauthon stared, stunned, and then threw himself off the ledge, generating a biotic field to slow and control his fall so he landed a small distance from it, nearer the middle of the floor. Keagon rammed into the thing and managed to make it spin and stumble while he shot into the knee on its metal leg, hoping to drop it.

Cauthon turned and blasted the last Shock trooper with his shotgun before turning back to strangest sight he'd ever seen on the battlefield; two marines wrestling with a giant robot. It looked almost like a perverse version of a father wrestling with his kids.

Calling out for them to hold on, he took a deep breath, gathered the last of his biotic strength, and with the motions of his body, Threw. The Geth Prime, Shadows and Keagon were all picked up and tossed over behind the bar!

He took a step to head over, and then collapsed to his knees!

All the adrenaline, all the fighting, the preparing, the organizing and leading, and especially the biotics, had all caught up to him. He gasped, suddenly shaky and very weak, and forced himself to stand and slowly walk over, checking the door to make sure no more Geth actually showed up. Though truthfully he doubted it, given that the Geth never did anything piecemeal, and he was sure they had thrown everything they had at them.

He stumbled over in the strange quiet that followed the firefight just as Shadows and Keagon crawled slowly out from the bar, both still moving with all their limbs and no major bleeding.

Just as they were climbing over the bar, the Prime stirred, then pointed its flashlight face at them. His right arm and leg were too badly damaged to function, but it grabbed its huge gun with its left and leveled it at them!

Then suddenly his flashlight head exploded!

Glancing in surprise, Cauthon and the others saw Doran standing beside it with the shotgun he'd had earlier.

"Welcome to Flux. Please enjoy all the entertainment my establishment can offer!" He stated, breathing heavily in his suit. Shadows and Keagon started laughing uncontrollably, and Cauthon joined in.

Turning, he looked out the window as he slid down to floor, his back to the bar. Chellick had taken command and had the few soldiers and officers who could still stand and had them guarding the door, just in case while Dr. Michel began tending to the surviving wounded. Other than that, all was quiet.

Shadows got a hold of a bottle and slid down next to Cauthon, while Keagon just laid down on the bar and started dozing off, laughing the whole time.

Taking a drink from the bottle, which turned out to be hard whiskey, he handed it to Cauthon.

"Got any songs?" Cauthon asked, taking a drink.

"A short one," Shadows replied, tiredly going through his omni-tool. "Came to me while my head was ringing from that Prime bastards attacks." Cauthon chuckled as he drank and Shadows played a harmonica song, of all things, something he called _Outlaw Star Breeze_.

Looking out the window as he handed the bottle back to Shadows, the cold liquid sliding down his throat and the music moving through him, he saw one more amazing sight.

The Citadel was opening, and for some reason, the _Alliance_ Fleet was rushing in!

As he watched, they surrounded the Reaper _Sovereign_ and opened fire.

"Think they got a shot?" Shadows asked, taking a swig before passing the bottle back, his song still playing.

As Cauthon watched, _Sovereign_ stretched his arms forward, and from their tips red beams of powerful energy fired and cut through Alliance Cruisers like their shields and armored hulls weren't even there. Where the Reaper pointed, ships exploded and died.

"Maybe one in three," he answered Shadows, quietly passing the bottle back.

Roughly a minute later as more ships died, something odd began happening to the Reaper. Red electrical arcs begin dancing all over its hull, and grew massively until they abruptly stopped, and then suddenly the giant ship began tilting. Like it was falling in space, almost like it had been knocked in the head!

With its shields apparently down, Alliance ships poured on the fire, and Cauthon could vaguely make out some frigate flying up, then spinning around. Still watching, he saw as it flew down, and launched a large, blue kinetic missile that drove straight through Sovereign. A few moments later the Reaper exploded!

The Citadel was saved!

The galaxy was spared another invasion of the Reaper fleets. Humans had done their part to save the Citadel and the galaxy, and everyone had worked together to stop the Geth and the Reaper.

It was a glorious moment to witness. A glorious day to be alive, and Cauthon, smiling, had never felt so proud to be a human soldier in all his life. On that day, they were legends among giants!

_Figures it would all go to hell after that!_


	8. Jack be Nimble, or Jack be Quick

Year – 2183 A.D.

4 Months after the Battle of the Citadel

3 Months after the death of Commander Shepard

"Steady boys, we don't want her spooked." Cauthon was looking forward to the end of this assignment, which would mean a fantastic payday for them, and a dangerous psycho behind bars. A good day at the office by anyone's definition, provided they lived through it. There were always one or two little troublesome details that had to be seen too.

Like the fact that the psycho in question was tough as hell and filled to the brim with biotic abilities.

Cauthon had picked up this job nearly a month back, and after following one crime scene that looked more like a localized storm, to one den of booze and crooks to another, they'd finally caught up to her. He'd almost wished they hadn't.

This little super powered nut case was a nightmare to behold; tough, crazy, mad as hell and filled with biotics that could probably stand up to Asari Matriarchs. She was bald, tattooed from head to toe, liked to wear knee high combat boots, cargo pants, some straps across the chest, and not much else.

And if there was a crime short of genocide that she hadn't committed or tried to commit, he'd be surprised.

And to cap it all, her name was Jack.

Shadows was still seething about it, having to switch to his last name until the job was over to avoid any confusion in conversations, much to the amusements of the rest of the squad. Still, there would be time to worry about that later. Keagon had the rest of the squad shadowing the docking hallways of the station they were on while Shadows and Cauthon quietly stalked Jack through the main markets of the station.

The station was called _Hiliayick_, which translated roughly meant something like "Black Trade Port" in English. It was a space station in the Terminus Systems, serving as a small nexus of black market trades and transfers. Everything from art to drugs to kidnapped future slaves ran through this cesspool of a station, including their target. The population had some humans, Turians, Salarians, a few Volus and even Asari, but mostly it was Batarian, still, like any place of commerce it didn't matter what the race, only the size of the credit chit.

Or the size of the gun.

The markets were an open auditorium three floors high, but their target was stomping around on the bottom floor, so Cauthon was following her on the ground floor as well. Shadows, being a deadly sniper and infiltrator, got the second floor, and was carefully keeping an eye on her bald head. She went from booth to store, cursing, threatening, sometimes paying, though mostly she just seemed to be looking for something to gripe about. Cauthon was still trying to figure all the angles to getting her captured when he got a very inconvenient call.

"Hey boss, looks like we got company," Keagon informed him over the com.

"Are we in good company?" Cauthon'd had a funny feeling about this job from day one. Ever since he left the Alliance and came out to the Terminus, his instincts had gotten sharper, and they'd been agitated ever since they'd arrived. He was getting that itch between his shoulder blades, the kind that comes when someone is staring constantly at him from behind his back.

"Negative sir. I'd say we've fallen in with a bad crowd." Keagon was half whispering in the com, which meant his team was keeping out of sight. "Looks like Blue Suns, and they seem to be expecting to throw a party, given their numbers."

Cauthon swore to himself. They'd been dogged by Blue Sun mercs for the last two weeks, too much to be coincidence. Now they were here, just when Cauthon's team was getting ready to bag a dangerous fugitive with a massive, not large but _massive_, price on her head.

Taking down Jack would require massive energy and effort, and all hands on deck, leaving them vulnerable during the take down and afterword.

The bastards were poaching!

Cauthon could feel real rage beginning to build. Someone on their squad was tipping them off, that was the only way they could keep popping up so regularly. He absolutely hated traitors, and when he figured out who it was, he would make them suffer.

Still, they had work to do. He kept an eye on their half strutting, half ranting target while he began furiously planning. Pacing along in the crowd, his mind almost drifting around, a plan slowly began to take shape, and a grin began grow on his face as it did.

He got ready to comn Shadows. As his sniper friend loved to say, 'It's time to dance.'

* * *

Shadows was carefully keeping an eye on the tattooed egg head, while moving through the crowd on the floor above her. Most people ignored him; a human in full combat armor with a pistol, submachine gun and sniper rifle strapped to him and a raggedy brown blanket doubling as a cloak. To most he simply appeared an ex-soldier out of work, walking around on the station to find some.

To those with better eyes, they knew a hunter when they saw one, and stayed out of his way.

He kept part of his attention on their target, the rest on the environment around him. The station had a wonderful policy of mind your own business or else, but he still saw thieves, petty muggers and crooks of all kinds looking over their shoulders or slipping into shadowy hidey holes as quickly as they'd appeared. This station wouldn't blink when they took Jack down, and the so-called citizens would shuffle on with their daily lives aboard this floating junk pile.

He couldn't wait to be gone.

"Watch it Human!" A Batarian snapped, shoving him. Shadows side stepped, grabbed the Batarians wrist and spun him into the rail guard, turned and slammed an elbow into the Batarians lower back before calmly walking on. The Batarian fell to the floor, gasping for air and groaning in pain. Everyone else merely stepped around him while giving Shadows a wide berth.

Other nearby Batarians glared at him, but one and all were local toughs who were just smart enough to know better than to start a fight. Shadows tried to hide his disgust. The four eyed, frog faced humanoid aliens were nothing but trouble, particularly out in the Terminus Systems. Between their own brutal culture and the massive amount of bad blood between their species and humans, they tended to be some of the biggest troublemakers you could find, in a chunk of the galaxy chalk full of troublemakers from every species.

Shaking his head he returned to watching the psychopath stomp around glare at people. Then the Captain radioed him, informing him of their guests, his suspicions, and his plan, and Shadows couldn't help but smile.

He began scanning around for an appropriate spot, and found one nearby that Jack was already heading for. A small little building connected to a large hallway in the back while being open in the front, allowing people from numerous sides of the station to come through.

It would make an excellent spot for their little dance. He quickly headed over, passing Jack, who just didn't seem to know what to do with herself, as she had literally stopped for a drink from a local vendor. He radioed the Captain as soon as he reached the shop, and then quickly and quietly, staying in the shadows, got to work turning the building into a trap.

* * *

Keagon had his squad in position, ready to pull a hit and run on the Blue Suns. The Blue Suns group that had showed up were mostly a mixture of Batarians and Turians, with a few humans mixed in, and were all loaded for bear. While they didn't know exactly that they were here for the Captain and the rest of the Renegades, it was a safe bet. Keagon recognized the lead Batarian and one of the Turians next to him from two other occasions, one on a planet in a small shanty town of a port, and from another space station. Both times while they were hunting Jack, and both times they had tried to horn in when they had gotten close to taking her.

Whether they were just following Jacks trail, or more likely, one of the Renegades was a Blue Suns undercover agent, which they were known for, didn't matter anymore. The Captain had had enough.

The orders had been given.

The mercs got close, and Keagon smiled; it was time to go to work.

His men; four humans, a Turian and a Salarian, were concealed in an old dock warehouse on the second story, with the mercs moving by below them. Keagon checked the thermal clip in his assault rifle before switching to his grenade launcher.

Before the Geth Invasion, weapon tech had pretty much leveled out. A gun, any gun used mass accelerators and element zero fields to generate low gravity fields on projectiles and then electronically and magnetically accelerate them to lethal velocities. The gun had a minicomputer that told it range, distance, and density required, and the ammo was just a block of metal that the gun cut up internally as needed for the situation.

The only things that got in the way of firing weapons was overheating and recoil, since the block of ammo could last for thousands of rounds, given that mass accelerator tech allowed for tiny rounds that packed massive punch.

After the Geth came, weapon tech changed after studying some of their technology. Now, guns could shoot faster and hit harder because of the thermal clips; small clips that you inserted into the gun took lots of heat and allowed more rapid fire from bigger bullets, but they had a limited number of shots before you had to eject them from your gun.

After they reached the shot limit, they were hot enough to melt skin, and the guns internal computer wouldn't let you fire anymore rounds till a new thermal clip was in place. While thermal clips were universal for any gun, each gun design; pistol, heavy pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, so on, had a different amount of shots per sink.

Keagon sighted the grenade launcher on the Blue Suns, controlling his breathing as they nearly reached position. He smiled, remembering how some Alliance history professor had talked about ammo clips coming back into fashion. According to him, humans were adjusting to it faster than most because humans had only stopped using traditional ammunition about fifty years ago, and now it was back.

His reminiscing ended when the mercs finally reached position, and he and his men opened up on them!

Say what you will about the Blue Suns, they were well trained. While two were cut down from the heavy concentration of fire on them, the others ducked into cover with only a few hits to their kinetic barriers.

Keagon grinned. It looked like it was going to be an interesting fight!

* * *

Cauthon knew when Keagon opened fire. Even this far from the hangar, some of the noise of the battle reached him in a muted thrum. The guy didn't know the meaning of restraint. Although, with battles anyway, that trait could be put to good use if you knew what you were doing, and knew your opponent.

"Shadows," he comned quietly, staying back in the crowd as everyone in the marketplace started turning towards the source of the noise. The markets they were in were right by the main docks, so any fire fights that started in there would usually transition into out in the markets where he as at.

"Here, Captain." Shadows replied calmly. Cauthon looked around to make sure their target was still moving towards the building that housed the large shop she was looking at, and was relieved to see that she either didn't hear the slowly growing sound of the gun fight, or that she just didn't care, as most on this station didn't.

"Stay in cover until I give the order. Just be another spectator until they line up right, but be ready to move if things go sideways." Cauthon ordered, watching as Jack went inside the shop. Seeing his chance, he moved forward as inconspicuously as he could.

"Understood sir." Shadows acknowledged. Cauthon had to admit he was still surprised that Shadows and Keagon had followed him when he had left the Alliance in disgust, but a part of him was glad they had. Shaking his head and focusing on the task at hand, he carefully made his way over to the wall of the building.

Keeping an eye on Jack and an ear on the gunfire, which was getting louder, he quickly moved around the building, squatting and placing charges at the base of them before moving around to the next. Using the junk and trash lying around on the ground, he carefully concealed the small devices from any prying eyes.

He had come full circle just before the firefight had erupted into the markets!

The crowd had started to scatter, but plenty more were milling around, watching. He turned and fell back against the wall next to the door of the shop, just as Jack stepped out, curious, like a hound picking up a favorite scent.

Out on the floor around the airlock hallway to the pillars holding up the second and third floors, a battle was being fought. The Blue Suns had the numbers and firepower, but Keagon and his squad were just as well armed, and had plenty of experience. Real firefights, though intense, have lots of cover, ducking and dodging, and very little of the brazen charges into enemy fire that people saw so often in vids.

Cauthon was almost amused at the fact that he had their target standing right in front of him with her back turned and attention elsewhere, but thanks to the damned Suns he couldn't take her down. But with the plan he'd come up with, he got to do the next best, or he privately admitted, stupidest thing. He got to rile her up!

Taking a breath to focus and concentrating, he reached out his hand, and mentally manipulated gravity through dark energy, and surrounded Jack with a biotic field! She responded with screams of surprise and rage, alongside some truly impressive swearing. He had seconds before she got her own biotics into play and made this a much more interesting fight, but it was enough!

"The Blue Suns will be very happy to claim your little bounty, dear Jackie!" He melodramatically whispered to her, before turning and bioticlly throwing her back into the shop through the window behind him!

She smashed through, flying down the isles before slamming into a stand of displays, coming to a hard stop.

Grinning, he activated a flash bang grenade and calmly tossed it inside. Then, putting on a burst of speed, he grabbed three more flash bangs, activated them, and tossed them out into the still milling crowd in a line from the store to the Suns.

"Grenades!" He yelled, activating his comn as he did, signaling Keagon. The crowd reacted and started screaming to get away, running away in every direction and clearing a path from the shop to the battle, where the Suns had been pressing Keagons group under the floors and behind the support pillars.

He ducked out of there for cover up some stairs like everyone else, keeping his head down. The grenades let loose with powerful concussive blasts and bright flashes of light, temporarily stunning and blinding anyone who was looking even remotely near them.

For a few moments, as he made it up some stairs under the overhang of the second floor, there was silence, as everyone hid to recover from the effects of the grenades. Keagon's squad pulled back down a hallway, stopping just out of sight of the Suns. The Suns were a little disarrayed, but they managed to pull themselves up and started looking for their targets. Jack managed to stand up, but as she did she caught sight of the Blue Suns across the now empty marketplace, and with a snarl of rage, opened fire on them with her pistol!

One Sun went down under the fire, and the others turning to the new threat, saw their primary target! The squad leader, a Batarian, began bellowing orders, turning his men to face the new threat. They moved forward to cover, converging on Jacks position inside the shop.

She of course used biotics to level the field, throwing some or lifting them into midair to empty whole clips into, but the Suns were disciplined, using cover, giving cover to each other, and they slowly forced her back deeper into the shop.

Cauthon was trying hard not to laugh; these guys were following his plans perfectly!

Still, he knew everything could fall apart at a moment's notice, and so kept tight reign on himself, watching the fight play out, judging the timing. When the Suns had started to surround the shop, he knew it was time.

"Shadows, thin the herd!" He radioed Shadows, getting his shotgun ready.

"Copy that!" Shadows replied, sounding almost relieved.

* * *

Shadows smiled coldly. Finally! Finally he could join the game! And the sooner this mission was over and they were off this crappy station, the better!

He shrugged off the ratty overcoat he'd been wearing, revealing scared up N7 armor, along with several weapons attached to it. Reaching up, grabbed his sniper rifle, an M-92 Mantis, and moving over to some railing that had metal grates welded to it, offering cover, he set up and zoomed in through the scope.

He had a M-97 Viper sitting on his back as well, for run and gun scrapes, but he preferred the bolt action for a fight like this.

Focusing on the head of a Blue Suns merc by the wall of the shop, he breathed out, stroked the trigger, and watched as the mercs head splattered the wall behind him with brain matter!

The Mantis rifle was a one shot rifle, so he ducked, ejected and loaded in a fresh thermal clip, popped back up, all in a few seconds. The Suns were still looking around, trying to spot him and being distracted from it by Jack.

He focused in on another target, exhaled, stroked the trigger, and ducked back down as another merc fell to the floor.

"Sniper!" He heard the squad leader finally call, shooting in his direction.

_God, you think?_ Shadows grinned sarcastically as he crawled to a new spot down the railings while his old spot was hammered full of holes.

Setting up and waiting for the fire to die down, he popped up, zoomed in, and fired on another merc thug before ducking back down, taking a breath. He didn't bother with the officers as they tended to have thicker armor and stronger shields, but the rank and file got generic basics, and his rifle was designed to slaughter the generic basics.

He'd heard of a new sniper rifle hitting the market called an M-29 Incisor, and was looking forward to getting it. Though truth be told the gun he really wanted was the M-98 Widow; the anti-tank rifle, the modified single person version specifically.

No ordinary human could fire the thing without shattering an arm, but thanks to all the genetic upgrades from the Alliance military, along with N7 special forces training, he could use the thing, and planned to once he got the cash.

Speaking of, he popped out from a new angle and quickly dropped another merc before pulling back and looking for fresh cover.

"Now!" Cauthon radioed, and from his vantage point Shadows watched as the Suns forces rippled from shock as Keagon and his squad laid into them from behind.

Shadows used the diversion to hammer them with more biotics, sending them flying from cover with dark energy bursts that imitated a personalized eruption at their feet. She was trying to get out of the shop, but the Suns had her pinned, at least for a few more moments.

* * *

Cauthon watched and waited, knowing his timing would have to be perfect. Keagon and Shadows were doing a good job of pushing the weakened Suns up against the shop, but it was slow work, and Jack was running around the shop shooting at them all randomly and throwing biotics around.

For a second he thought the Suns were going to hold out against all reason, but then their commander gave orders for covering fire and moved them closer to the shop, one of them launching a rocket into it to make Jack duck behind cover, which she did.

"Finally!" He muttered, and with a dark grin, pushed a button his holographic omni-tool, sending a signal to the charges around the base of the shop!

Explosions ripped outwards on all sides of the shop. The Suns were blown apart from them, and the building the shop was in started coming down in on itself!

"Oh, hell!" He shouted to no one, his voice lost in the roar of the collapsing building.

_This station really is a piece of shit!_ He couldn't believe it, those charges hadn't been that strong, and they hadn't been meant to bring down the whole building, just the Blue Suns, while knocking Jack on her ass. Now, it looked like their bounty wasn't just knocked flat, but out right flattened!

Moving in cautiously, after some of the smoke and dust had cleared, he took in the scene. The building had collapsed in on itself, so there was comparably minimal damage to everything else. The Blue Suns were wiped out utterly, and Jack was nowhere to be seen.

However, upon reaching the debri pile, a huge shudder started going through it, and suddenly an entire section heaved up, and then burst outward. Cauthon dove for cover before carefully standing back up, and was stunned to see Jack standing there, the blue arcs of biotic dark energy dancing around her body as she stumbled out of the hole she'd made.

"Damn!" He muttered to himself, shaking his head and readying his shotgun.

Jack turned her bald, glowing, tattooed head to him and glared. Cauthon couldn't tell if she figured out all of it, but she was quick enough to guess most of it. And the shotgun he was pointing at her probably didn't help. However, Jack had been throwing around a lot of powerful biotic attacks, and the toll had begun to slow her.

Before she could turn and attack him, or turn and flee, Cauthon sighted in his shotgun and fired a concussive shot.

The shot hammered through her barrier and knocker her flat on back, stunning her. Cauthon ran forward and used his omni-tool to tazer her into unconsciousness before she could gather her wits and strength for another attack. He paused for a moment, finger on the trigger to make sure, but Jack didn't stir, and he smiled. Just like that, one of the most dangerous, and certainly the most crazy biotic in the Terminus Systems, was defeated.

Cauthon smiled as he quickly cuffed her. Now of course all he and his men had to do was get her to Purgatory in one piece, and collect their fee from the warden. Simple.

_Or would be, accept that I've got a spy or traitor in my crew, the Blue Suns are out to steal our payday, and the Warden of Purgatory, along with all of his men happen to be Blue Suns themselves! Oh well, if I'd wanted easy I wouldn't have quit the Alliance._ Cauthon thought, somewhat bitterly to himself as Keagon finally reached them with the rest of their surviving crew, save Shadows.

"What kept you Sergeant?" Cauthon asked, catching his breath.

"A bunch of rude assholes in blue armor that thought they were something special, sir." Keagon replied, signaling two of their crew to pick up the now unconscious Jack.

"Uh huh. Isn't that what all the expensive guns are for?" Cauthon looked around and was surprised to see most of the station inhabitants that weren't hiding just milling around, watching with blatant curiosity. If he'd been them, he mused, he'd be heading for the nearest shuttle.

"Of course, sir. They're why I'm here cleaning up the mess." Keagon gestured gravely at the pile of rubble that used to be a structure as their men started carrying Jack out the way they'd come.

Cauthon rolled his eyes and keyed his radio. "Shadows, meet us at the Wildcat. Get her cued up and ready. I want off this station five minutes ago."

"Already on my way, Skipper. I wanted off it before we even set foot on it!" Shadows answered over radio.

"I know we had to start calling him Shadows on this mission cause of the target, but I kinda like it. Think I'm just going to keep calling him by his fake last name from now on, it makes him cooler, more mysterious, and it bugs the crap out of him to boot." Keagon joked as they headed toward their hangar tube.

"So long as the two of you do your jobs and don't kill each other, or everyone else, I don't really care." Cauthon replied, trying not to smile as he brought up the rear of their group while they moved towards the docking tubes.

Fortunately for them, Jack had docked not long before them, and they'd managed to find her in the area's close to the docks fairly quickly. So now that she was their prisoner, they didn't have very far to drag her to their ship.

"Uh, Captain?" Shadows asked suddenly on the raido.

"Here Shadows, go ahead." Cauthon replied, pausing to check around them as they reached the main hangar docking tubes.

"Looks like our guests brought some friends with them. I've got their ship tagged, and they're loitering around their hatch for now, but I'd suggest you speed it up. Those explosions will make them come and investigate sooner or later. We're of course ready to go as soon as you arrive, Sir." Shadows informed him.

"Understood Shadows. We'll be there presently." Cauthon broke the connection and turned to his, motioning them with hand signals to speed up!

Having just fought a run and gun battle with the Blue Suns, nobody wanted a second round, and they half carried, half dragged Jack double time all the way to their docking hatch. Keagon keyed in the code, and they piled into the decontamination chamber that was right outside the main entrance to the rest of the ship.

Finally it opened up and admitted them inside their ship, and they immediately set about their work.

Keagon led the men down to the cargo hold to lock up Jack while Cauthon went up to the bridge of their small, repurposed freighter. There he found Shadows sitting in the pilot seat, double checking the readouts, ready to disembark.

"Take us out Shadows. The sooner this jobs over the better I'll feel." Cauthon ordered, walking over to the sensors.

"Yes sir. Heading out now." Shadows replied, disengaging the magnetic locks and pulling the ship out of the hangar. There was a slight lull as the gravity shifted from the station to the ship, but after that it was smooth flying with nothing but open space before them. "Any thoughts on how to deal with our Judas?" Shadows asked, cold and curious as he piloted them towards the Mass Relay at the edge of the system.

"A few. All of them violent I'm afraid." Cauthon answered, watching the sensors very carefully.

"Excellent." Shadows remarked coldly as he goosed more speed out or their little ship.

"And it looks like I'll have to go with one of those ideas pretty soon." Cauthon muttered darkly. The sensors had just tagged the merc ship leaving dock and flying hardcore to catch up with them.

"We're really popular today, Shadows. Must be our warm and loving personalities." Cauthon sighed, getting up and hitting the ship wide radio.

"Attention all crew. Get ready to repel boarders. It seems the Blue Suns don't know when to quit, and are hell bent on stealing our hard earned prize from us. Keagon, report to the bridge immediately. Everyone else, get something to eat, check your shields and ready your guns. We'll have company soon." Cauthon switched off the ship radio and sighed, glancing out the bridge window to the open stars.

"Getting retrospective sir?" Shadows flipped on the autopilot course towards the Relay before getting up.

"Just wondering how something as beautiful as the stars can give birth to such ugliness." Cauthon mussed.

"Simple, they don't. People do. We're ugly all on our own, simply because we want things. And there's just more ugly than beautiful people out here sir." Shadows tapped on the shoulder, and Cauthon shook himself back to the present.

"True. Well, let's go and greet some more ugliness, in the hopes that beauty will be close behind it." Cauthon and Shadows turned and left the bridge together, heading towards the cargo bay, where the Suns would most likely enter their ship.

"Any thoughts on the traitor sir?" Shadows asked, curious and wary as they headed down the hall.

"Simple, I'm going to limit his options, force his hand, and catch him. Then kill him in a appropriate manner." Cauthon's face may as well have been carved from steel as he spoke, his thoughts about the loss of some of his men recently to the Blue Suns.

"Sounds like fun sir." Shadow's voice was as cold as Cauthon's face was hard.

* * *

Authors note: I've been gone for some time, but I'm back now. In this chapter I was bouncing around with POV a lot, to give some insight into some of the core characters, but from now on, each chapter will be focused on only one POV. I may experiment with First Person, haven't really done that before, but it could be fun, but the following chapters will all be focused on only one characters perspective.

Any PM's, Reviews or critiques are welcome! Next few chapters shouldn't be quite as far apart. They will largely be action based for a while, but we will calm down soon and get to know our characters, and meet a lot of new ones!

Hope you all enjoy. I'll fish around for a proper cover, but for now I got nothing.


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